A HOSPITAL is asking patients not to rush into decisions about plastic surgery after the number of people opting for a nip and tuck rose threefold in the past year.
The private BMI Shirley Oaks Hospital said the number of requests for breast implants rose by 321 per cent, followed by neck lifts at a 320 per cent increase, then face lifts at 313 per cent, nose jobs at 283 per cent and breast lifts at 227 per cent.
Dr Adrian Winbow, a consultant psychiatrist at the hospital, said: "A lot of surgeons do not refer their patients to a psychiatrist which is something I think should change.
"About 10 per cent of patients who have surgery are in need of psychiatric help and suffer from disorders like body dysmorphia where they become obsessed by one feature that they believe is causing them unhappiness.
"But the truth is that lack of confidence or self-esteem usually stems from somewhere else and changing your body might not help that."
Dr Winbow said he had many patients who were quite "screwed up" by their surgery.
"They thought the surgery would help them and it doesn't, which makes the problem much worse," he said.
"There's this American philosophy of plastic surgery being something everyone can and should do. It's also accessible and increasingly affordable.
"Three quarters of the patients are women but there are far more men these days because of the pressures of advertising.
"I think it's important, culturally, to focus on the fact we're human beings and have personalities rather than someone having a beautiful face."
A 26-year-old from South Croydon, whom the Advertiser agreed not to name, said she would have refused to have a psychiatric appointment if it had been part of the process in getting breast implants when she was 24.
"I didn't have it done for outside reasons," she said.
"It wasn't to become a topless model or attract boys, it was very personal."
"Basically I did not feel like the ones I was born with were mine.
"I think it's only when someone wants something really unnatural or something that doesn't suit them that psychiatric help is appropriate."
She paid £4,500 for the surgery, a process that took four months from the first time she went to visit a doctor.
Jenny Geh, a consultant plastic surgeon at Shirley Oaks, said she believed surgery "helped people".
She said: "It's much less taboo now and the prices have remained the same for a long time.
"Most patients have thought about it long and hard. I never accept patients who want something outrageous and will refer them to psychiatrists."
The consultant also provides breast reductions for NHS patients with severe back ache or abdomen reductions for people struggling with their health.
